Aliens are attacking Earth! Green-skinned alien
organ-snatchers to be precise, who keep their sterile bodies alive with
transplants from unwilling Human donors. To combat this threat, Supreme
Headquarters Alien Defence Organization has been established, under the
authority of the irascible General Henderon and the day-to-day control of driven
Commander Straker.
From his
headquarters beneath the studios of movie-makers Harlington-Straker, the
Commander deploys resources including the orbiting Space Intruder Detectors, a
Moonbase equipped with three single-missile Interceptors, the jet fighter Sky
One (which launches from the submarine aircraft carrier Skydiver), and a fleet f
terrestrial SHADO-mobiles. He must protect an unwitting population from the
marauding aliens, at whatever cost to his own humanity..

Episode Listing

1

Identified

16th September 1970

2

Computer Affair

15th May 1971

3

Flight Path

20th January 1971

4

Exposed

23rd September 1970

5

Survival

6th January 1971

6

Conflict

7th October 1970

7

The Dalotek Affair

10th February 1971

8

A Question of Priorities

14th October 1970

9

Ordeal

24th April 1971

10

The Responsibility Seat

8th March 1973

11

The Square Triangle

9th December 1970

12

Court Martial

1st May 1971

13

Close Up

16th December 1970

14

Confetti Check A-OK

10th July 1971

15

ESP

21st October 1970

16

Kill Straker

4th November 1970

17

Sub-Smash

11th November 1970

18

The Sound of Silence

17th July 1971

19

The Cat with Ten Lives

30th September 1970

20

Destruction

2nd December 1970

21

The Man Who Came Back

3rd February 1971

22

The Psychobombs

30th December 1970

23

Reflectons in the Water

24th July 1971

24

Timelash

17th February 1971

25

Mindbender

13th January 1971

26

The Long Sleep

15th March 1973

Episode 13 - Close-Up - Instead of shooting a UFO
down, SHADO forces it to follow one particular trajectory, allowing a space
probe to lock onto its path as it escapes. The probe will track the UFO back to
its base, and finally give SHADO a glimpse of the aliens homeworld.
Unfortunately their insight is restricted by a matter of perspective..

Dull, dull, dull. With little human drama and the effects
sequences held in check by SHADO's determination to let this invader escape,
there's little tension as we wait to see if the plan will succeed, and, without
that interest, there's no shock to the conclusion - that without any way of
measuring scale, the probe's images lack context and are meaningless.

This ending - with billions in SHADO funds wasted because of
a stupid error - is surprisingly realistic when one remembers that NASA once
lost Mars probe because some instructions were written in Imperial measures and
others in metric, with all the potential for confusion that suggests, but it's
hardly worth a 50-minute wait.

And the close-up of Grabrielle Drake's legs it involves is a
bit too great a close-up to act any sort of compensation.

Episode 8 - A Question of Priorities - Commander
Straker's rare day out with his young son ends in tragedy as the boy chases
after his father .. and is run down by a car. His treatment should be routine,
but a sensitivity to antibiotics means his life can only be saved by an
experimental drug under development in America. Promising his ex-wife Mary he'll
save the boy, Straker orders a SHADO jet to transport the drug across the
Atlantic - without telling his staff about his 'diversion' of SHADO equipment,
even though his deputy and best friend Alec freeman would surely support him.

At SHADO HQ, Freeman is monitoring an alien landing in
Ireland, and realizes from its signals that tis alien may be friendly - and a
valuable ally. He diverts the nearest asset SHADO has - the jet in mid-Atlantic
- and Straker doesn't overrule him ..

UFO is a curious series. Rather than the straight piece of
Sci-Fi action many had expected, it's a almost precursor to ER and Hill Street
Blues - a drama series about people who face immense stress in an important job,
except his job involves the use of spaceships. The mix isn't always successful,
but A Question of Priorities is the perfect fusion of Science Fiction action and
Human drama, while Ed Bishop`s understated performance as Straker does his duty
at the cost of his son's life is a wonder to behold (even though it does rather
play into the hands of lazy critics who like to think Anderson = puppets =
wooden... review done!). The final scene is quite shattering, but its full
impact is really bought home in other episodes, as Confetti Check A-OK shows the
10 year story of how Straker's responsibilities at SHADO destroyed his
marriage, Sub-Smash sees him reliving Mary's anger at the tragedy as he hovers
on the edge of death, and, most devastatingly, the surreal Mindbender puts him
in an alternate world where he's merely an actor in a TV series, and transforms
his grief into entertainment - "pretty pictures for the masses with a great
performance from the kid".